January may be one of the best times during the year to pack up the car for a weekend getaway, as Midwestern cities get creative with special packages and discounted hotel room rates. Plus, who couldn’t use a change of scenery to break up the winter monotony?

In Chicago, visitors can choose from 39 themed weekends at 26 hotels across the city in January and February as part of Chicago’s Great Hotel Extravaganza, Winter Delights 2006. The Chicago Office of Tourism and the hotels have created special offers that celebrate food, music, arts, theater, dance and more. Here are a couple of the packages offered this month.

“Create your Own Culinary Delights” on Jan. 13-15 will be a two-person experience at the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro. Participants will work alongside the hotel’s chef to create several appetizers and take a culinary history tour through Chicago. The package sells for $492.

“Lyric Opera of Chicago” on Jan. 20-22 will be at the Fairmont Chicago, and will include a three-course meal in the hotel’s Moulin Rouge room, an exclusive guided backstage tour of the Civic Opera House and prime seating at the Lyric Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” The two-person package sells for $999, one-person for $714.      Every Saturday evening at dusk in January and February, there will also be a fireworks show on Michigan Avenue as part of “Winter Delights.”

“It’s an invigorating time to get in the city, and these packages are really designed to make the hotels the stars in the winter and make them the site for some unique experiences,” said Dororthy Coyle, the director of the Chicago Office of Tourism. Call (877) CHICAGO or visit www.877chicago.com for more information.

Minneapolis has three promotions going on this winter, according to Shana Steidel from the Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association.

“The Ivey Awards Theatre Lover’s Getaway” will feature special package discounts from hotels and theaters in Minneapolis and St. Paul in January and February.

“The Andy Warhol Supernova Arts Package” combines discounted room rates with tickets to the Walker Art Center, where a new Andy Warhol exhibit is making its national debut. The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 26.

Food and wine getaways will be offered the weekend of Feb. 24-26 in conjunction with the Twin Cities Food and Wine Experience, a gourmet food show at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

These packages will go on sale in mid-January, Steidel said. For more information, call (800) 491-6176 or visit www.minneapolis.org/romance in a couple of weeks, at which time details for the packages will be posted.

Kansas City also expects to unveil its wintertime specials in the coming weeks. Alan Carr, communications project manager for the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association, said his organization is working out the details of whether to extend its popular “2 for 1 Hotel Weekends,” where guests pay for one night but stay for two at certain hotels. “Holiday Hotel Packages” at several hotels will continue through Jan. 19. Check www.visitkc.com and click on Hotel Packages to browse the specials.